It’s that time of the year. You’re up to your eyeballs in test prep and your students’ enthusiasm is waning. Enough already, they’re thinking. Please, no more workbooks or practice tests, they beg with tired little eyes. When you look out at those empty stares and bobbing heads you know you need to introduce a little excitement to the test prep ... Continue Reading
3 Easy Ways to Teach Poetry
April is National Poetry Month. It’s a special time to celebrate the importance of poets and poetry in our culture. And a great opportunity to teach poetry to your class. I know this month is already pretty busy. Between spring break and test prep, you don’t have a lot of free time. And standardized tests are right around the corner. But ... Continue Reading
A Letter to Teachers as Testing Season Begins
Dear Teachers, I’ve started this letter so many times over the past week. I keep getting lost in the middle. It’s not because I can’t figure out what to say to you, but rather because there’s so much I want to say to you. I mean...this has been a year. Right? When schools closed abruptly last March, we were all caught off guard. Sure there ... Continue Reading
5 Super Easy Ways to Make Writing Fun
Writing time can sometimes be a challenge in the classroom. As much as I love writing, I know that not all students (or teachers) agree. For a lot of writers, writing workshop is hard. Some writers have a hard time deciding what to write about. Others are easily distracted. They struggle to sit still and write the whole time. And then you have ... Continue Reading
Escape Rooms Made Easy: Tips to Save Your Sanity and Your Time
For a long time, I was reluctant to try escape rooms. I loved the idea of using an escape room in my classroom, but I was overwhelmed by the process. Escape rooms have become a popular review strategy. Students are presented with a puzzle or mystery and they use academic skills to unlock clues which will ultimately help them solve the ... Continue Reading
4 Ways to Make Review More Fun for Everyone
Springtime means review. Whether you are preparing for standardized tests, district testing, or simply benchmark reviews, you will be spending time going over all the amazing things your students have learned this year. Which, less face it, can be kind of BORING. For your students. And for you. But it doesn’t have to be. Try one of ... Continue Reading
Why You Should Use Task Cards to Teach Grammar
Not many teachers light up when they hear the word grammar. Maybe you recall your own days of diagramming sentences under the watchful eye of your high school English teacher. Or you feel slightly anxious as you worry about past participles, dangling prepositions, and plural possessives. Most students don’t exactly get excited by ... Continue Reading
6 Ways to Strengthen Your Connection with Students
You’ve probably heard it a million times. Relationships are at the core of successful teaching. You can’t expect students to care about learning until they know you care about them. So it's important to build a strong connection with students. When students feel connected to their teacher and to one another they perform better socially ... Continue Reading
A Simple Problem Solving Strategy That Works Every Time
I love teaching math. And not just any math, but word problems especially. There, I said it. I love teaching word problems. I know not all teachers share my fondness for word problems. And many students dread them. But I’m going to share a simple problem-solving strategy that will have you and your students loving word problems ... Continue Reading
Giving Students Feedback About Their Writing
When I was a new teacher, I dreaded teaching writing. I am embarrassed to admit that I actually got excited about a fire drill because it gave me an excuse to skip our writing time for the day. The reality is that I had no idea how to help students become better writers. No one taught me that in college! My lessons were too broad and I really ... Continue Reading
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